This is just the beginning.
I'm shocked, positively SHOCKED I TELL YOU, that Trump's minions resorted to violence and broke into the Capitol. Who woulda thunk it? EVERYBODY!
I just didn't feel it when Trump hassled Raffensperger. What I mean is it was heinous, but it was not palpable. Maybe it's covid lockdown, maybe it's the broad spectrum internet era, but when something as bad as this happened in the last century, you'd feel the buzz amongst the populace, that something unique was going on, something dangerous. Just ask anybody who lived through Kent State, never mind the assassination of President Kennedy. It's like our entire nation has become blasé.
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"Money talks and we're the living proof
There ain't no limit to what money can do
Money talks, money talks..."
"Money Talks"
The Kinks
bit.ly/2ME0vlf
It's the economy, STUPID!
You could live on minimum wage in the seventies. Income inequality was of relatively little concern. There was not a plethora of billionaires, and what happened in your head and heart was still key, which is why humanities majors were prevalent at elite institutions, ain't that a laugh, check the statistics today, if you major in art, or English, you're laughed at, derided, even though they're the basics of our society, and we all live for entertainment, especially in this covid era.
But then inflation was out of control and people wanted change. And Reagan got elected. And cut taxes and the run-up began, and the people with the money liked it, and they never wanted to give it up.
And during the nineties, the economy was raging, and to get re-elected, Bill Clinton eviscerated the welfare state and as the century turned, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. But the poor had computers and flat screens and ultimately smartphones so they were not entitled to complain. Unless you were literally starving on the street...oh, that didn't work either, look at the homeless problem.
So...
By the middle of the second decade of this century, there was a new class of losers. Those who had high-paying blue collar jobs that had been shipped overseas, those in careers that didn't pay enough, and with globalization they were all told to get service jobs, which pay poorly and...if you work in the Amazon warehouse, you're treated little better than the robots rolling alongside you. The pressure!
Yes, America was a pressure cooker, but this was not acknowledged by the winners, who'd rigged the game in their favor, using their big bucks to buy off the government. Furthermore, no one in government even understood the internet and the behemoths it enabled, the techies ran circles around D.C.
So, you had no cash and no opportunity. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT!
Oh sure, there's the issue of racism. But money always comes first, it always triumphs. And Trump latched on to this, employing scapegoats to make his point. Immigrants...any group that voted Democratic, then again, most of the bedrock blue collar voters had switched parties. The Dems kept saying to trust them while they did nothing for the downtrodden and the truth is it's hard to make it in America today, and if you did, you were fine with maybe others rising up, but you were never gonna sacrifice, never ever, nor would your kids do so either. If you were poor? You could be an athlete or an entertainer, whether on reality TV or social media. Fame and money became our culture. And if someone made money, they were lionized, and assumed they knew better than the rest of us. As if knowing business makes you an expert in everything.
3
So Trump harnesses the discontent, and flummoxes not only the Republican party, but the Democrats too. The Republicans rallied around Trump, because the Republicans believe it's about winning at any cost, damn your principles. As for the Democrats...they were completely clueless. There was a faction on the left pointing out the inequities, the need for change, but they were not heeded...not only the party, but the overpaid wankers on the news laughed at Bernie Sanders when the truth is he was on to something. This is Entertainment 101. You focus on the REACTION! As for Hillary Clinton, she evidenced the old paradigm, you paid your dues in the traditional ways and you earned your success, you were entitled to it, the same way old time musicians still bitch about streaming, as if the old game is ever going to come back, and be clear, it's not.
So the Democrats self-flagellate, looking for answers. And they glom on to the racist bent, because they don't want to look inside themselves, no way.
And the pollsters had been wrong, but they would not admit their model was broken, that polling was broken, everybody was not sitting at home eager to pick up the landline, many people will never pick up a phone call unless they're clear who's calling...we're inundated with junk calls, even so-called "legitimate" calls, especially the "surveys." Can we stop doing the work of these duplicitous companies, if you want my feedback, PAY ME! But the corporations, the winners, want everybody to work for free, saying it benefits the worker, the same way you post away on social media and they sell your info to advertisers and you lose all privacy along the way.
So, Trump gets elected and nothing changes. NOTHING! We're told to rely on the system. This is like saying to rely on physical retail in the music business, that ship sailed YEARS AGO!
4
Then Trump does what he tells us he's going to do. The left is positively shocked, and the right is happy. Meanwhile, the news outlets, even the best of them, are busy appearing fair and balanced while the network that employs that moniker is anything but. In other words, those truly with power EXPRESSED NO OUTRAGE!
It was like living through the Holocaust. Yes, a couple of years back I went to the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. They had newspaper plates from the era. The Holocaust was in the news all the time, but what did we do in America? NOTHING!
The only recent outrage came from those with no base of power, without big bucks, so it was ignored.
As for the right, it has spent decades discrediting the news it does not control, to the point where "New York Times" became a pejorative and you only listened to messages that agreed with your sentiments. And anything said on the left was "biased." Didn't matter if it was true, it was not only discounted, but ignored, even though if you watch Fox they're constantly referencing the "New York Times," because unlike the channel, the "Times" actually does reporting.
Are you catching the schism? Between rich and poor and left and right?
And then came the internet.
5
Google provides different results to the same query. Right there, we have the root of this insanity. There's no there there, no truth, no facts. And then Facebook and Twitter and other social media... They were not started by humanities majors, they were started by people who were eager to make MONEY! Not only did they not care about the consequences of their platforms, THEY WERE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF THEM! And when the flaws were pointed out, they circled the wagons and denied them, the machine had to keep running, for the money, even though the money was flowing into ever fewer hands. How many of the poor had investments? ALMOST NONE!
But D.C. could not control tech, no way. And the techies woke up and hired lobbyists and Mark Zuckerberg even became friends with Donald Trump, akin to Don King, who noticed his fighter was losing and then ended up in the other corner to sign up the eventual winner, that happened, truly. Then again, even millennials have no idea what I'm talking about, boxing is history, MMA rules, and that's how Joe Rogan became the biggest podcaster extant, with more influence than many news outlets.
Meanwhile, the news outlets can't stop crying about disruption. The truth is the old local newspaper model no longer works, don't try to prop it up, let it die and allow new platforms to arise. Like physical retail in music...turns out the public didn't want to buy physical, and even Best Buy cut ties with the sycophantic industry. But we got streaming, which is better, but we've got the old people decrying it and we're still in an era of chaos, but that's just representative of the world we live in. Hardware is so turn of the century, now it's all about software. But, once again, oldsters may dress young and get plastic surgery, but they still do not understand the changes in the essence of today's society.
6
Then Wall Street broke the economy, through outright crime, rating nearly worthless securities as valuable, and when it all crashed, not only did the government rescue the Street, no one went to jail. There were no consequences! If it's white collar crime, you skate. Oh, there are a few contrary examples, but the U.S. essentially wiped out the Mafia, yet above board/white collar crime, you could always hire an attorney to run circles around those working for the government and delay and ultimately get off the hook, time and time again.
But if you were poor, especially Black, and you committed traditional crime...they locked you up, ruining families, hobbling the next generation, but the problem was seen as drugs when the problem was always at the top, always at the top.
And what was the ultimate message that was received? Lying is fine, everybody does it, and you do what you have to to survive. Clinton lied, Trump did seemingly nothing but lie, and we were told to lionize Obama, who accomplished little other than being our first Black president. Sure, we got the ACA, aka "Obamacare," but the Republicans were playing three-dimensional chess and Obama and the Democrats were playing checkers. To the point if you were not wealthy, even if you were a Democrat, you were disillusioned. And despite the election of Biden, this sentiment still stands. Biden represents the finger in the dike, rebuilding from the ground up? Hell, we can't even fix our roads and bridges.
7
So, Trump's success was not, like a typical entertainer, he lied about his past. And he was uncontrollable, but his fans believed in him. This eluded the Democrats completely, NO ONE was passionate about Hillary, seemingly not even the woman herself, who was afraid of stating the truth and when she did, like with the "deplorables," immediately caved in to news blowback and apologized. Trump? He did it his way. That's a star. You may hate him, but let's own the truth.
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Now it's not only Wall Street that pays no price. Neither does Trump. He lies about Ukraine and doesn't get convicted. Sure, he's emboldened, but this only stokes the fury of his fanbase.
But now it's worse. Fox, the rest of the right, they say what they want willy-nilly with no consequences. We have to wait FOUR YEARS for Fox and Newsmax to bite the bullet, when Smartmatic threatened them with legal action. THEY IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZED! Ran clips stating the truth: nyti.ms/3otG48W Once again it comes down to money, Smartmatic's image was being tarnished, hurting further business. As for traditional big business... Well, they're all multinationals and they're all afraid to take a stand, they say they're apolitical when the truth is they're the most powerful players on the planet. So, they won't sue anybody, they're afraid of alienating potential customers. Same deal with entertainers...if they state their truth they might lose some paying customers. So, everybody's holding back, there's a chilling effect, and it's all based on MONEY! And we laugh at those without cash and lift up the business billionaires, no matter what they do. And their companies are so big, and so intertwined with life, that no boycott can hurt them, none.
9
Did you listen to Tucker Carlson last night? bit.ly/399C4DW
While other news outlets covered the news, Fox aired their usual inanely biased commentators, and if you listened to them you'd believe the problem was the Democrats. Yes, a few Trump supporters got out of hand, but if you gave the left any power, you'd lose all your FREEDOM!
Our nation is in the dumper as a result of "freedom." Covid is raging, but a huge swath of our public has been educated in inanities, and there's no way to persuade them their beliefs are untrue. They get their news from biased sources and the right has demonized truthful sources and this is where we are.
Forget what happened yesterday. It's disillusioning and tragic, BUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER JANUARY 20TH?
Believe me, Trump's tribe is not gonna wake up. Nor are their leaders/enablers on Fox, Newsmax, OAN, talk radio, Facebook... You can't whack all the moles, it's absolutely impossible, there are too many.
In other words, forty years of history have come home to roost. And you can't turn the ship around in a day. But we must to survive as a democracy. Am I glad Biden won? OF COURSE! Do I have hope he'll enact fundamental change, NO WAY! Because the leaders of the Democratic party don't want change, they just want to be on the gravy train, part of the club, and you ain't in it. They want your vote, they promise you results, but the truth is they only listen to those with big money, and even the left pooh-poohs the Squad. The right is a big tent, they embrace QAnon believers, but if you cross the line just a tiny little bit on the left, you're canceled.
And the left doesn't even know how to deal with this rampant cancellation. Left leaders, even in universities, are afraid of their constituents/students. No one wants rape on campus, no one wants people to be less than equal, but when you start getting the brain police involved and the lexicon changes constantly and if you screw up your life is ruined...this is a gift to the right. But no, the left must not alienate anyone, as it loses the plot. As for the left's basic values, based on the working man and equality...the working people all went right, they're now Republicans, and all Democrats know their party is controlled by the fat cats.
10
So yesterday is just evidence of where we are, how far we've traveled. But only when Trump's followers invaded the Capitol was the right outraged. This guy has been crossing the line ad infinitum and even his natural enemies are licking his boots, i.e. Cruz and Graham. The elected officials are afraid of the president and his fanbase. And the truth is, as a result of the gerrymandering the right claimed victory in, the end result is they ceded their party to the far right. That's what happens when you push it too far.
Where were all those establishment figures outraged today, calling for Trump's ouster, FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS!
Pelosi was too afraid. The right was complicit.
America was disillusioned.
It's over folks. We believed in the American myth to such a degree that we had blinders on and missed the future. It's our own damn fault, not China's, not some immigrant's. Turns out the immigrants were part of the solution, they were key to Silicon Valley's success, but now they must go too! To satisfy the jingoistic ignorant.
As for the news... The best story I read today, and I read many, was in the "New York Times," because it was the perspective FROM INSIDE THE CAPITOL: nyti.ms/2LzNkBh
I watched three channels yesterday afternoon, CNN, MSNBC and Fox, none of them were as informational as this one article, never mind the others in the "Times." And, oh yeah, I read all the articles in the "Wall Street Journal" and the "Los Angeles Times" too, and they were nowhere near as comprehensive, never mind intriguing. But, the "New York Times," which bends over backward to give both sides, is a far-lefty rag that's a joke. HUH?
But despite the web being all about reading, the truth is people get their news visually, or they only read the headlines, no one has time for depth, never mind being able to even read and comprehend writing. Everybody's in their own little niche, we can't even have a conversation, we all have different interests. Facts are history, truth is out the window, and the elected officials and news outlets we used to trust in are so busy following the buck that they won't stand up for what's right.
So the story is what is going to happen after January 20th. Do you truly think all these Republicans, these right-wingers, are going to be transformed as a result of yesterday's antics? OF COURSE NOT! If they can believe Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor, they can certainly believe that the election was stolen from Trump. Forget that it's insane on the surface, that doesn't matter, it's how you FEEL that counts.
Now the truth is social media canceled Alex Jones and put a huge dent in his reach and impact. We've got to start canceling so many more people, that need to be canceled, not for failing to provide a trigger warning for "Huckleberry Finn." Put Trump in jail. Try some of the elected enablers. Even more, penalize these news outlets. You can't cry fire in a crowded theatre, if you incentivized civilians to riot...are there now costs?
Rich and powerful people have to pay penalties.
Instead, Steve Cohen skates and now owns the Mets. What message does this send?
I never thought in my lifetime America would slide this far. But I had my eyes open. Those controlling the levers of power did not, or they ignored the truth. When it comes to disruption, they believed it couldn't happen to them. Yesterday, Trump and his rioters taught a lesson about disruption. And the truth is it's not about the falsehood of the vote, but the falsehood of AMERICA!
Trump may do some damage within two weeks, but the truth is the Republicans are never gonna impeach and convict him and he's not going to resign so let's hope he doesn't try martial law, but what we really need to do is focus on fixing the bedrock of this country. Which is based on opportunity and facts, with a bit of education thrown in to boot, which Betsy DeVos said should be at a religious school as opposed to a "government school."
Government is good. We needed government in Katrina and we need it now during Covid. Forget the labels, the truth is America is already socialist in so many ways, can you say MEDICARE? Elon Musk transforms an entire industry, whether Tesla wins or nots the truth is in the near future everybody will be driving an electric car. But if you're Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren you're anti-America. No, they're not, THEY'RE PRO-AMERICA! Stop telling us what is unrealistic, what can't happen. Trump should be a beacon for what can happen, turning this entire nation ever more rightward as it becomes more and more isolationist. But big ideas on the left, big changes on the left, it just can't happen.
As for the rank and file...they're just playing the lottery, literally or figuratively, and that doesn't deliver hope.
As for the insane Mr. Musk? He paid penalties for tweets. He's been sued. He's been cowered. But if you're Trump, if you're in the government? FUGGETABOUTIT!
P.S. Enough with the endless optimism. If you can't own your problems, you can never fix them.
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